BHARAT ELECTRONICS LTD Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BHARAT Electronics Limited is a Government Company having its registered office at Bangalore and Regional Offices at Calcutta, Madras and Hyderabad. Its factory unit is situated in the Industrial Area, Panchkula, Haryana. The petitioner is a dealer registered under the Central and the State Sales Tax Acts. In the year 1988-89 the amount of sales tax due was deposited by the petitioner in the State Bank of India, Sector 17, Chandigarh (Treasury Branch) which was payable to the State of Haryana. Subsequently when notice was received by the petitioner from the Assessing Authority that the amount was not paid that an enquiry was made by the petitioner from the Bank. The amount was wrongly credited in the name of the Central Government taking it to be a tax under the Central Act. Thus the entries were reversed and the amount was credited to the State of Haryana. A notice was issued by the Assessing Authority to the petitioner and ultimately an order of assessment was passed on September 28, 1992-Annexure P-8 imposing a penalty on account of delayed payment of tax which is impugned in this writ petition by the petitioner inter alia on the ground that miscrediting of the amount was not on account of the fault of the petitioner but it was on account of the fault of State Bank of India, Sector 17, Chandigarh.

(2.) ON notice of motion having been issued, written statement has been filed by the official respondent and thereafter replication was filed by the petitioner.

(3.) THE petitioner's case is that in accordance with the provisions of the Haryana General Sales Tax and the Rules framed thereunder he deposited the tax due within time and submitted the receipts alongwith the returns. The tax was paid in the State Bank of India, Sector 17, Branch who was authorised to accept the amounts due to the State of Haryana. In support of this contention Annexure P-9 has been produced along with the replication, a certificate issued by the State Bank of India, Treasury Branch, Sector 17, Chandigarh, dated August 13,1993, which reads as under: "this is to certify that State Bank of India, Treasury Branch is authorised to Collect Haryana st/cst since its opening of the Branch, i. e. September, 85. " Seal of the Bank.